People planning their summer vacations – particularly veterans and their families or people seeking a brief summer volunteer opportunity – should consider being part of the Sherman VFW “Veterans’ Week 2002” from July 20 to 26 at Katahdin Elementary School in Sherman Station.

It should be a week you won’t forget, and one that offers you more benefits than you can imagine.

The Sherman Area Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2299 and its Ladies Auxiliary are hosting the event which features the Traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also known as “The Moving Wall,” brought from San Jose, Calif., by its creator, John Devitt.

The Moving Wall was last in Sherman Station in 1999, said one of the event’s organizers, Auxiliary President Janice Charette.

“The feeling that everybody got, the satisfaction, the companionships, the healing. We knew, when it left, that we were going to bring it back because we all felt it was a part of us. It was such a success we knew we had to bring it back.”

That year, nearly 6,000 people viewed the Moving Wall in Sherman Station.

The memorial, a scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., lists the names of 58,202 men and women killed in service to their country during the Vietnam conflict.

Many people, and I am one, have found the name we were seeking on that wall, and it is an unbelievably emotional experience.

But even if you know no name on the wall, once you’ve seen it, “it becomes part of your life,” Charette said. “All 58,000 names are mine.”

Other activities planned for that week include a flyover by the Maine Air National Guard, and a POW-MIA balloon flight.

Visitors will be offered free, tethered rides in the Freedom Flight balloon and, weather permitting, one-hour flights can be purchased.

The Sherman VFW is a Korean War Commemorative Post and will be conducting a special ceremony for all Korean War veterans wishing to take part.

Veterans of other wars will be recognized during the week with veterans of World War II, Vietnam, the Gulf War and Canadian Vietnam veterans receiving special certificates.

Everyone is invited to attend, and the sponsors are eagerly seeking funds to help support the project, as well as volunteers to help out during the week.

“We don’t only need money,” Charette said, “we are going to need people at the wall, and it’s not too early to start talking about that and getting names. We need guards for the wall. We need entertainment, people to police the grounds and people to cook food for the volunteers. There are so many little things that need to be dealt with. It’s quite an undertaking for a small group, and we want public help, input and volunteers.”

People who volunteer to work at the wall, for example, will be provided a list of the names and the history of the wall to prepare for that assignment.

To be part of this special event, you are invited to attend the next meeting of the “Veterans’ Week 2002” committee at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at the VFW Hall in Sherman Station.

As Charette said, the group is also raising money to finance the project, and one of those fund-raisers, which she describes as “a huge breakfast” is from 7 to 10 a.m. tomorrow at the VFW Hall in Sherman Station.

“We’ll have ham, eggs, French toast, home fries, homemade breads, hot chocolate, coffee and tea,” she said. “It’s all you can eat for $5 a person.”

If you cannot volunteer, but would like to help support this project, you can write a check or money order for “The Wall Fund” and mail it to Charette, P.O. Box 87, Sherman Station 04777; or to Post Commander Wayne Guiggey, Sherman VFW Post, 68 North St., Sherman Mills, 04776.

Anyone with questions about this event can call Charette, 365-4858, or Guiggey, 365-4832.

What a neat idea Literacy Volunteers of America Bangor Chapter has to raise funds for its program and, at the same time, help support teams competing in the Eastern Maine basketball tournament next week.

For $1 a letter, you can spell out the name of your favorite player, offer encouraging words, or root for your favorite team on specially designed mobile walls during “Tournament Week” at the Bangor Mall.

LVA volunteers will be at the Letters of Literacy booth during regular mall hours next week to accept your donations for the non-profit, volunteer program that helps local adults learn to read and write.

At the same time, you will be demonstrating support for your favorite basketball player or team.

High schools, in each of the four classes, that receive the best support, will earn “LVA Sportsmanship Awards” based on the basis of decisions of local celebrity judges who will select the best walls.

For more information about this fund-raiser, or about LVA, call 947-8451.

In addition to all the Winter Carnival activities at the Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum in Orrington, there will be an unveiling of a new painting of the historic facility by Sandy Manship of Fernwood of Maine at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17 at the Homestead.

During the unveiling, prints of the painting will be presented to thank individuals and businesses that have helped support the living history museum.

Print recipients are the Bullock Family Foundation; Sam’s Club of Bangor; contractor Walter Musson; Granville Lumber; Curran Estate Administrator Joel Dearborn; representatives of the towns of Orrington and Holden; the Orrington Historical Society; Harris and Helen Southard and Curran Homestead honorary chairman Don Colson.

The prints will be available for purchase during the celebration and at the gift shop. For more information, call 947-0749 or 745-4426.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.